50 Years of Second Chances
by 123ficwriter321
Summary: A collection of One-Shots in which we see Shawn, Juliet, Rachel, Rebecca, and Isaac do life as only the Spencer Family can! The sequel to Second Chances (which I highly recommend you read-but you can read the first chapter of this without confusion to get a taste and see if you like it).
1. The Honeymoon

Juliet woke as she sun streamed onto her face through the window. It was late morning, later than they had intended to wake up, but she didn't care. She danced a finger across her husband's bare chest, admiring the mix of muscle and 'cushion' that he was composed of and thought of last night.

It had been perfect.

She had been slightly nervous through the whole reception, anticipating what was to come, but those nerves died when they reached the room and she saw the look in his eye. A look of deep and tender love. Of compassion, patience, maturity. A real look. So they came together in a passionate and wonderful display of love, but as she rested her hand on his heart in the light of the morning, she realized it was more than just physical. It was giving him that last piece of her when he had already known and loved and committed to the rest. He truly loved her and she truly loved him and from that came a connection with intensity and passion she had never experienced before.

* * *

He woke to a kiss from the most beautiful woman on the planet. "Good morning Wife." He said softly as he caressed her cheek with his hand.

"Good morning Husband." She replied as she leaned in for a proper kiss. It was a slow and tender kiss that they both seemed to melt in to and as he ran his fingers through her golden hair, he thought about the night before. How coming together for the first time as man and wife was an experience like nothing he'd ever felt before. Because there was no worry about judgment, no concern that she'd leave, just love. He loved all of her and she loved him with a completeness he never realized he'd been searching for. Aching for.

"I love you." He whispered into her ear as he ran a finger down her toned back, taking pleasure in the way her muscles shivered in response.

"I love you right back." She replied with a twinkle in her eye. "What do you say we stay in today?"

"I like it, I like it very much."

* * *

Juliet sighed contently as she leaned into Shawn and watched from the balcony as the sun dove into the cool Pacific Ocean. It had been a perfect day of passionate love, stirring conversation, and delicious room service. She couldn't think of a time when she'd been more relaxed and calm and happy doing nothing for a day. This, this honeymoon was the only time she and Shawn would have together as just them, without the girls, without work, without responsibilities. And it was beyond wonderful, but as Shawn pushed her forward slightly and began gently massaging away the knots that had lived in her back for years, she smiled at the prospects of their future. For while this honeymoon was a perfect start to their life together, it wasn't the end. They were already a family, with love and understanding and a knowledge that the best things don't always come easy, but they're worth it in the end. Shawn didn't love just her in this moment when their lives could revolve around only each other. He loved all of her: her past, her daughter, her career, her life. And she loved his, all of it. And now, instead of having two lives that merely intertwined, they were one—forever bonded by their deep and honest love.

So as Shawn slipped her silky robe off her shoulder and began kissing her neck, she smiled at how clearly she saw things. She realized it is love of the foolish that is blind, because real love is seeing the flaws and the pain along with the good and the joy and choosing to accept the whole those elements produced. Real love isn't blind, it takes time and effort and understanding but it's so much more rewarding than anything she'd known before.

* * *

As the last of the sun sank into the ocean, his wife flipped around and wrapped her legs around him. He smiled and kissed her neck as he ran his hand along her thigh, satisfied in the slight quivering of anticipation he could evoke in her and was surprised when she stopped his progress up her leg.

"Mr. Shawn Spencer," She said with mischief in her eyes.

"Mrs. Juliet Spencer." He replied, taking immense satisfaction in pairing her name with his.

A smile flashed across her face before she spoke. "You are a flawed man, I know, you know." He looked at her, confused, but she only smiled and kissed him gently before continuing. "You are a flawed, imperfect man, and I have never loved anyone as much as I love you."

He looked at her for a moment, stunned, before pulling her face toward his and crashing in to her—saying with his body all the things he couldn't find the words to say. All his self doubt, his insecurities that he hid behind humor and exuberance, she had crushed them. It was the love and acceptance he'd searched for his entire life, always being disappointed by those he had placed his hope in. But Juliet—he could and had told Juliet everything and she had seen the things he was too close to see and yet she still loved him and wanted him. And he wanted her. But more than that, he had her—for the rest of their lives she was his and he was hers and their children were theirs. And that love was real and true and more than he ever could have imagined.

* * *

Juliet woke as the sun streamed through the window. It was late morning, later than they had intended to wake up, but they had no where they had to be. She danced her finger across her husband's bare chest, tracing the wrinkles that had replaced some of the muscle—tracks of life he always said. She leaned over to wake him with a kiss and smiled as he stirred.

"Good morning Wife." He mumbled, still entangled in the throws of sleep.

"Good morning Husband." They'd greeted each other the same way for 44 years, never missing a day. It had started with their honeymoon all those years ago and continued through every up and down they'd lived through. And through all of that it had served as a reminder of the love they discovered those first days of their marriage. The love that grew stronger every single day. She saw that love in Shawn's eyes as he ran his fingers through her hair—now gray from years of wisdom—and smiled in the knowledge that they loved each other just as much or more than they had the first time they'd spoken those words.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

_I'm back! As it's Valentine's Day (at least in this time-zone), I felt like I had to write something about love and the idea for this had been playing in the back of my head for a while now. Plus I missed this family…So I hope you like it! This is a one-shot type thing, so I will be jumping around the timeline, usually not within a story but who knows! Anyway, I wanted to write this to remind everyone that this type of real, true, deep love does exist and it's amazing. Don't give up on love, don't sell yourself short because I've seen this love and it's so much better than anything Hollywood produces. So if you're alone this Valentine's day, (I say as I dip animal crackers into Nutella), it's okay. Eat chocolate and take heart because you deserve love like this and it's worth waiting for. _

_And thank you to all who reviewed the last chapter of Second Chances! I'm not going to reply to those all here, but keep writing them because I do read each and every one. And review this too because I will be responding to reviews at the end of the next chapter! _

_Happy Valentine's Day Psych-Os! {#}_


	2. The Trip to the Hospital

"McNab?" Rachel asked as she opened the door to find the tall detective on the other side.

"Hi Rachel, grab your siblings, we've got to go." He said solemnly as he wrung his hands together. She started to ask him a question, but he held up a hand to stop her. "Just call them."

"Rebecca! Squirt!" She yelled up the stairs, still searching McNab for answers. Something was wrong, but what?

"What's up Sis?" Isaac asked as his head peeked around the corner. "McNab, what's wrong?" At nine, Isaac was easily the best reader of people in the family—a gift he often used to his advantage, but it came in handy at times.

Rebecca appeared behind him and urged him to walk down the stairs as she tried to make sense of the situation. "Buzz… Who? Who is it?"

"Your dad." The detective sighed, staring at his toes and Rachel's heart fell out of her chest. Something happened to Dad…

"He's…?" She couldn't even finish the question, couldn't let herself think the thought.

"He's been shot. He's in surgery now, your mom wanted me to bring you three down to the hospital."

She moved on auto-pilot, grabbing her shoes, phone, and a couple pillows from the couch—she still remembered uncomfortably waiting in the hospital room for Rebecca to get out of surgery with her appendix and she had no doubt a gunshot wound would take longer.

"McNab…it was bad, wasn't it?" She heard Isaac ask, he never was good at waiting, he was always moving forward, trying to fix things as fast as possible, sometimes even before they broke.

She wiped the tears from her eyes and tried to shove her arm into her coat but it wasn't moving. And Buzz's lack of response was killing her. She punched her arm in the sleeve again and again, frustrated by the fact that she couldn't see anymore when she felt Rebecca's hand on her shoulder. "You can tell us Buzz. Please."

"He's in surgery, that's all I know." He repeated and she felt Rebecca reach for her hand, which she gladly took.

* * *

McNab took shortcuts he didn't know existed on the way to the hospital, lights flashing the whole time. He sat between his sisters in the back seat, desperately hoping everything was okay. Dad had been shot before, he often regaled them with the story of his epic leap to the top of Lassie's car. He had to be okay. Dad was always okay—he'd probably just make some movie reference or something, right?

"Let's make bets on what movie reference he'll make." He said softly, breaking the silence that overwhelmed them.

"Bubba—" Becca started but he interrupted.

"No, you know he's going to make one. Please, let's…let's.." He clenched his fists together and blinked rapidly—he was the man, he needed to stay brave for his sisters, even if they were older.

"Alright Squirt, you go first." Rachel said shakily and he thought hard.

It was a little unfair, Rachel and Becca were teenagers and allowed to watch way more movies than he could, but there had to be something he could think of. "Ummm, doesn't he get shot in Die Hard?"

Rachel and Becca both gasped and looked at him but Becca spoke first. "No way Dad let you watch that!"

"More like no way _Mom _let you watch that! Have you seriously seen Die Hard?" Rachel jumped in.

"Uhh."

"Oh Bubba, you're so dead. Seriously, when did you see it?" Becca prodded again and he saw just how much she looked like Mom. Aside from the eyelashes and age gap, they really could be twins.

"I snuck downstairs while Dad and Uncle Gus were watching. You can't tell Mom or Dad, they didn't catch me." He pleaded and both his sister's ears perked up.

"Seriously?" Rachel asked, now more curious than mad, "We've been trying to sneak down without getting caught for years, how did you do it?"

"Well it was at the old house and my—"

"The _townhouse?_" Becca interrupted, "So you were, what, five?"

He broke into a smile that he knew gave him away and got slapped in the arm from both sides. "I didn't get that there were bad words, I just thought it was explosions and stuff. That's why I got sent to the principal's office in Kindergarten."

"No," Rachel gasped, "you did _not_ say that to Mrs. Johnson…" He let another grin reach his lips and both girls gasped and put they're hands to their mouth. "No wonder Mom and Dad wouldn't tell us why you got in trouble

"Kids, we're here." McNab said from the front and all at once he remembered where they were going and why.

* * *

Isaac's hand was sweaty in hers, just like it was the first time they went on a rollercoaster and he was so scared he was going to fall out. She squeezed her baby brother's hand and looked over at Rachel who then nodded and likely squeezed his other hand. Isaac always tried to be the bravest of them, but he was scared. Who was she kidding, they all were scared.

Buzz led them quietly to the waiting room and the second she saw Mom, she felt tears stinging her eyes. She hadn't seen Mom look that defeated since before her father died—the life and fun that normally lit up her eyes was dim and Rebecca felt dread well up in her own stomach.

"Mom?" Rachel broke the silence first and their mom looked up and tried to muster a smile.

"I'm so glad you're here. Thanks Buzz." She said softly.

"How is he?" She asked as she released Isaac's tugging hand.

Before Mom could reply, Isaac had crossed the waiting room and crawled on to her lap—something he hadn't done in years, much to Mom's disappointment. She wrapped her arms around him and her smile grew a little stronger as she replied. "GSW to the chest, just missed the heart but there was a lot of bleeding. He's still in surgery.

She and Rachel had sat down on opposite sides of the mother-son pair and unsure of what to say, she wrapped her arms around her family and felt Rachel follow suit.

"Where are Uncle Gus, Lassie, Gramps and Nanna?" Rachel asked after a while.

"Aunt Nicole is at a conference so Uncle Gus had to go take Krista and Bryan and to their tap lesson. He offered to stay but I told him to go, all he was doing was worrying here. Carlton was off duty today so he and Carol took Andrew, Sam, and Ellie to DisneyLand. And Gramps and Nanna are on their way, they should be here any minute." Mom rattled and she just tightened her hold on her family.

Dad would have to be okay. There was no other option. He was Dad—life of the party, adventurer extraordinaire—no bullet could stop him. "He'll be okay, he's got to be okay." She mumbled as she laid her head on Mom's shoulder, glad that at least they could worry together.

* * *

She couldn't believe how big Isaac had gotten. He'd refused to sit on her lap for over a year now and in that time he had only gotten more gangly and big. But as she rubbed his back and the girls arms, she couldn't help but be glad for the weight of love they provided. She thought back to the last time she had been in a waiting room—ten years, almost to the day—with 5 year old Rachel clinging to her as Reb had her appendix removed. So much had changed since that day and as she held her kids close, she realized just how blessed and amazing they had been. Her three kids were there, so full of love, so full of good, and she couldn't be more proud of the people they were becoming. Even the girls, at 15 they weren't moody or vindictive or any of that. They had their days of course, but compared to so many other kids, compared to herself even at their age, they seemed carefree and happy all the time. It's was like, as long as they had each other, nothing else mattered. They didn't worry about being anyone but themselves because they loved each other and that's who they really cared about so instead of suffering under peer pressure, they embraced high school with an ease she envied. And Isaac—all she had contributed to that boy were his eyes as far as she could tell, though as she felt one of his hot tears hit her shoulder, she realized his warmth and sensitivity—though often masked by jokes like his father—was more readily shown than Shawn's.

Shawn…she had felt the bullet herself when it entered his chest—ripping out her heart as he fell with a look of surprise across his face. Buzz, her partner for the day, had taken down the shooter with a gracefulness she didn't expect from the normally clumsy man, and she had made it to Shawn just before he lost consciousness—though, not until after he had made some goofy remark about her being an angel.

And now he was in surgery.

The entire ambulance ride over, she had tried to remain calm and composed, but it was nearly impossible with her husband bleeding out in front of her. He was still the love of her life, their love had only grown stronger each day of the past ten years, and she didn't know what she'd do without him. But she couldn't think that way. Reb was right, he'd get through this, he had to, Shawn could get through anything.

"Mrs. Spencer?" A nurse called as she walked through the swinging doors.

"Yes." She replied, unable to say anything else.

"He's out of surgery, he lost a lot of blood, but we were able to patch him up and he should be just fine, but we'll monitor him closely to be safe. You can see him once he wakes up."

"Thank you. Oh thank you." She replied, clinging to Isaac even tighter as the girls got up and hugged the nurse before piling on to her. The nurse smiled and nodded before walking away and Juliet just cried tears of relief as she held her children close.

* * *

He felt like he'd been shot. Which, of course, he had, but nothing really described the pain of getting shot. Not that he felt terribly in pain right now, just a dull throbbing in his chest, but as he followed the IV in his arm to the bag that read 'Morphine', he realized that his pain was being well managed.

"Jules." He groaned. He couldn't wipe the image of fear in her eyes from his mind. It was why he fought so hard to hang on, he couldn't leave her. Or the girls. Or Isaac. His life had become so much about them and so little about himself, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

"She's in the waiting room with your kids. How are you feeling Mr. Spencer?" A nurse asked as she recorded his vitals off the machine."

"Never better…" She gave him a disbelieving look and he revised his answer. "I feel like I've been shot and on pain killers. 3 of 10 or so. And call me Shawn, Mr. Spencer is my dad."

"Glad to hear it Shawn." She replied with a smile before logging off the computer. "Would you like me to send your wife in?"

"Can you send the kids in too? I promise I'll be good!" He gave her his most winning smile and she eventually sighed—which he took as a good sign.

"Alright, but only for a couple minutes. And no getting worked up."

"Scout's honor!"

The nurse smiled again and left, only to reappear a minute later with his beautiful family.

"Daddy!" All three kids said as they walked through the door and cautiously approached for hugs. He was almost never 'Daddy' anymore, unless Isaac slipped or the girls really wanted something, but it warmed his aching heart to hear it from all of them.

"How do you feel Sweetie?" Jules asked and he thought he had never seen a more beautiful woman in his life.

"A bit like Olaf." He answered.

"Dad, he was _impaled_." Rach replied dramatically and he smiled—he still remembered her, just two years old, walking around the house bumping in to things and saying 'I've been impaled' just like her favorite snowman. Even now, he knew it was one of her favorite movies, though she and Becks pretended to not love Disney as much as they still did.

"Wow, Bub, you were totally wrong about the film reference." Becks said with a nudge to Isaac as Jules crawled into bed with him, careful to not disturb the various tubes hanging off him.

"What was your reference Ice?" He asked as he wrapped his right arm around his wife and wiped a tear off her cheek with his left—the little bit of pain it caused was worth it to let her know he was okay.

"Uhhh, nothing." His son guiltily replied before shooting a dirty look at his sister.

"Come on Son." He said, but winked at his kids, whatever they were hiding he'd let slide for now. "How's this, I'll give whoever sneaks into the kids' unit and makes it back here with either Sorry or Life twenty bucks."

"Shawn…" Juliet chided half-heartedly—he knew she was glad he was as obnoxious as ever.

"Alright…no money bribes…just my ice cream!" Juliet lifted her head to give a somewhat stern look and he shot her a winsome smile. "No, you're right, ice cream is too delicious to share. I guess that means it's time for Stories with the Spencers—kids only, Rach, you start." So Shawn held his wife as tightly as he could and listened to his three beautiful children compose a story sentence by sentence, amazed at all he had to live for and incredibly grateful to those that had saved him so he could enjoy every minute.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

_I'm back again! A little bit of drama this time but still a happy ending!_

_cac0066…I'm so glad you actually liked the epilogue of SC because honestly I was a little worried that you hated it! I still go back and read it every once and a while and really, I love it. I'm impressed with myself, I never thought I'd be able to write anything like that… And I'm glad you like the first chapter of this too! This one is a lot of building the family relationships. _

_MaggieJaggie…sorry this took a while, but hopefully you like it!_

_Potato…I'm glad you were excited to see this (and recognized that it was me!)! I do love this family so much and I love writing them!_

_Cupcake…another one-shot! Hopefully this is another good one! {#}_

_To the rest of you, keep writing reviews! I've been really busy lately and will remain really busy for a while-plus I go on vacation next week which either means I'll have lots of time to write or none, so hang with me and I'll try to update things as quickly as I can! Read and review! (Also, if there are any moments that you would particularly like to see written out, let me know and I'll try to make that happen! They can be at any point in the 50 years.)_


	3. The Love

"Dad, I'm going to marry her."

"Like hell you are!" Shawn spun around to face his son. "Sit, now." He pointed to the well worn chair in his office.

"You can't tell me—"

"Sit Isaac." He put all the authority he could into his voice and his youngest reluctantly dropped into the chair. He couldn't believe this was happening—Isaac had entered this rebellious stage about a year ago, not long after Rebecca's wedding. He'd dropped out of school, fixed up his old motorcycle, and gone gallivanting across the country. And Shawn had let him go, who was he to say he couldn't when he'd spent years doing pretty much the same thing. But this was too far. Isaac had met the girl, what, three months prior? And now he wanted to get married. With no job, no plan for the future, and no idea what he was getting into.

But as he looked at his son, who was staring daggers into him at the moment, he sighed. He couldn't handle this like his own father had—angrily and without understanding. He and his boy had always been close and he wanted to get back to that. "Alright Iceman, tell me why you want to marry this girl." He resigned as he plopped into the chair opposite his son.

"What?" Obviously that was not the response Isaac expected.

"Tell me why you love her."

Isaac looked him over, seemingly trying to decide if he was serious, before looking at his own thumbs in thought. "She's the most beautiful woman I've ever met. And I'm happy when I'm with her. I know it's all fast Dad, but I can't imagine life without her."

"Yes you can, think back to April." He remarked, subsequently receiving daggers from his son again. "Sorry, continue."

"Well that's kind of it. I mean, I love her, and I know marriage is hard, but I think we can get through it together." Isaac looked up at him with his eyes glistening in the naivety of youthful love.

"Oh Ice…what happened? You were there when I talked to Andrew…" He sighed, dropping his head in his hands to clear his thoughts. "How about I make you a deal. I'll tell you why I love your mom, and if you can honestly say you love this girl that much, I'll help you buy the ring." His sons eyes lit up and he began to speak, but Shawn put up a hand to quiet him. "But—if you don't love her like that, you dump her, move back home, work at Psych, and go back to school to finish getting your degree. Deal?"

Isaac stared at him skeptically for a second, before flashing him the cocky smile he had inherited from the very man who was about to wipe it from his face. "You're on, Dad. Get ready to pay."

"Not so fast Iceman, you have to listen to me first." He sat back in his chair and thought about how to put into words the love he had for his wife of over twenty years. "Okay, so you know that I have taken your mom out on a date every Sunday since we started dating, and that I kiss her and I'll occasionally openly flirt with her while you kids are around." Isaac nodded and he continued. "Well that doesn't even begin to show how much I _love_ my wife.

"Juliet is…she's everything to me. I mean, I love you and your sisters deeply, but if we were drowning in the ocean and I could choose to save her or you three, I would save her every time. That's not to belittle how much I love you, I would rather die than lose _any_ of you, but I would save her first.

"She is…light. I can't even explain how happy she makes me. When I look in her eyes I see the very best of me, because even though she knows my flaws, that's how she sees me. And so I spend each day striving to be that man—the very best version of myself—because she deserves my best.

"Her laugh, after all these years, it has an effect on me. My stomach flips or I feel warm all over, and you'd think I'd get used to it or annoyed by it after all these years, but I don't because I love that I can still make her laugh.

"I wake up every single morning and the first words out of my mouth are 'Good morning, Wife' because every morning I wake up next to her _is _ a good one.

"I go to sleep with her in my arms because without her I feel empty and even as empty-nesters, we're so busy that it's the only time I really get to hold her.

"Sometimes, she'll reach out and touch me or kiss me, just randomly—be it on a case, at home, grocery shopping, or out on a walk. And Isaac, I still get tingles. Because I know she wants to be near me, wants to touch me just to make sure I'm there, and nothing makes me happier.

"But son, love is not warm, fuzzy feelings. They come with the territory, but that's not what love is. Your mom and I know each other better than anyone in the world, and that gives us _immense_ power over each other. I have the power to hurt her worse than anyone ever has and she has that same power over me.

"Love is giving someone that kind of power over you with the prayer they'll never abuse it.

"Love is being furious with her, more furious than you can imagine, and choosing to bite your tongue instead of cutting deep because you know that she is worth more to you than whatever you are arguing about.

"Love is letting her change you because you know she'll only change you for the better and you're willing to trust _everything_ about yourself in her hands.

"Love is seeing her and knowing that wherever you are, you're home because as long as she's there because wherever she's at is where you belong.

"Love is patiently explaining to her for the thousandth time how to operate the DVR and then setting it for her anyway because she still doesn't get it.

"Love is kindly putting away the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen because even though you're exhausted, that small act of kindness will make her day and that's worth all the effort you have.

"Love is being proud of her achievements as your own instead of being jealous. It's letting her say she loosened the lid of the jar when you know you did all the work. It's admitting when you're wrong even though you think you're right and forgiving her when she did wrong even if she won't admit it.

"Love is getting up at two in the morning because she's thirsty and even though it's the last thing you want to do, you still find yourself downstairs at the fridge wondering how she ever got this much control over you—then not caring because she smiles and thanks you for the water.

"Love is loving her through bad times, when she needs it most and deserves it least because you hope and deep down you know she'll do the same for you.

"Love is knowing every detail of her face, every curve of her body, every trick in bed and loving the familiarity they bring. It's thinking of her randomly throughout the day only to realize you're smiling like an idiot. It's embracing every wrinkle, every gray hair, every change because they're evidence of the life you're spending together.

"Love is knowing that you're going to mess up. That you're going to hurt her and get hurt but you love anyway because there are more good days than bad.

"That takes work. Marriage isn't hard, it's the most difficult thing I've ever done because it's so much easier to give up. To blame her for her faults and mine. To be sick of her, be jealous, impatient, spiteful—all those things. But in working at love, you receive the greatest gift—her love. And that kind of deep, mutual love isn't physical or chemical, it's so much more and it grows every single day.

"And that is just scraping the surface of how much I love your mother. So son, if you feel a fraction of that love for this girl, let's go shopping today, because while I love your mom a little more every day, I've _always_ known that I would move heaven and earth to love her and be loved." It was probably the most serious and sensitive talk he'd ever had, but as Isaac looked up from his hands with a look of awe and understanding, he knew it was worth the vulnerability.

"Can I use your computer to fill out the application to SBU…" Isaac sighed, only to let his resignation turn to a coy smile.

A smile that he mirrored as he rose to get the laptop from his desk. "Of course my Big Man." He said as he passed the physical result of his love for his wife the computer and tousled his hair, followed by giving him a light smack to the cheek. "You start work tomorrow, Gus and I have a meeting with a client at nine a.m."

"I'll be there." Isaac replied as he began pulling up the application. Shawn smiled down at his son and turned to find his phone, he needed to hear Juliet's voice. "And Dad?" He stopped searching for the phone and turned back to the young man, "Thanks."

"You're welcome Punk. I love you."

"I love you too. Tell Mom I say hi and I'm moving back home."

"Gladly."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

_Guys I wrote another one and I was going to wait a couple days to post it but I couldn't wait because I love it. _

_M…I love long reviews actually, all reviews make me happy but long ones are particularly awesome! And I'll keep Isaac's birth on the books, I'll definitely write it, I just don't know when..._

_guest…glad you liked it! Hopefully you like this one too!_

_Cupcake…this one is less family stuff but it's dripping in Shulesy goodness!_

_Choco…you saying I'm a 'brilliant writer' made my day. Just so you know. And you didn't have to wait long! I'll do more on the kid's love lives throughout, and I'm really glad you liked the SC epilogue! Keep reading and reviewing!_

_To the rest of you, I know I got this chapter up kinda fast, so make sure you don't miss chapter 2 and please review one or both! Or not, you can just read and enjoy too, but I'm loving getting ideas from y'all as to what to write! Have a great day/night/week!_


	4. The Tattle Tale

"Hey Bubba, come here for a minute!" He heard Becca call from the girl's room.

"What are you gonna do to me?" Just because he was the littlest, his sisters always did things to him. Sometimes he had to be the baby when they played pretend, sometimes he had to pretend he was married to one of them which was just gross, sometimes he was the dog. It wasn't always that bad, but he had a bad feeling about the way Becca called him.

"We're not going to do anything Isaac, I just want you to come here for a minute." Becca replied.

"I don't wanna."

"Too bad Squirt." Rachel said from behind as she grabbed him and dragged him in to the room. It was a trap, he should have known better.

"No no no! Sis I don't wanna!" He looked around the room and saw a chair and a light and Becca smiling like she did when they made him pretend to be something dumb.

"Stop struggling Squirt or we'll have to tie you down."

* * *

"Bubba, you look beautiful!" She said to her baby brother as she smiled at her sister. "Just a bit of blush and you'll be perfect!"

"I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!"

"Don't worry, Squirt, we'll take it all off in a minute, we just needed to practice putting on make-up so when we turn thirteen we know how to do it." Rachel said as she dusted his cheeks with bright pink blush.

"You're only 11! And I heard Mommy say you can't wear make-up till you're in high school!" He did have a point, but it was waaay more fun to put make-up on Isaac than their dolls.

"Meh, it's not like we're taking pictures, toughen up baby bro." She said, running her fingers through his thick brown hair. Mom hated how long it was but Dad said his had been even longer when he was a kid and it was better if they let him go through this phase in kindergarten than middle school.

"I hate you."

"No you don't. You love us Squirt. You know you do." Rachel responded as she squeezed his cheek. "I'd say we knocked this one out of the park, wouldn't you Rebecca?"

"Definitely, you got the make-up remover?" Rachel nodded and handed her a cotton pad soaked in the solution and the two of them started undoing their handiwork.

"Stop squirming Bub, you don't want this in your eye." They worked quickly and in no time the make-up was off.

"There, all better. Thanks for being our model Squirt." Rachel said as she kissed his forehead.

"I'm telling!" Was all he said as he darted out of their room.

"Shoot…" She said as she looked to her sister, who then grabbed her wrist and pulled her to the stairs.

"You little nark!" Rachel whispered down the stairs as Isaac turned the corner and they scurried after him.

"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!" He had made it to the kitchen, they were toast…

"Let's clean up the evidence…" She sighed as she dragged her sister back upstairs to await their imminent doom.

* * *

"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!" She heard her five-year-old son a second before he crashed into the back of her legs.

"What's up Superman?" She asked as she turned down the heat on the spaghetti sauce and crouched so she was at eye level with her youngest.

"Sis and Becca—"

"Wait…Isaac, you know the Tattletale Rules."

"But Mo-om!" He pleaded and she picked him up and sat him on the island.

"Did you get hurt?" She started down the list they had used for six years.

He looked at her stubbornly, before reluctantly mumbling, "No."

"Did it hurt your feelings?"

"No, but—"

"Did it break one of the house rules?"

"No…"

"Was it something I've specifically told them not to do before?"

"No, but Mommy—"

"Did it break or damage something?"

Isaac sighed, resigned to the fact that he couldn't tattle. "No Mommy."

"I'm sorry Baby Boy." She kissed his forehead and pulled him off the counter.

"It's not fair." He said with a foot stamp. "They get away with _everything_ just cause they're biggerer and twins. Why couldn't I be twins?"

She looked into his big blue eyes, a near perfect reflection of her and Rebecca's but on Shawn's face. "Oh Superman…"

"They always team up on me! I want to team up on them!"

"Baby," She walked around the island and pulled out a bar stool, "come here."

"And I don't want to be the baby!"

"Isaac, come here, I have to tell you something." She said in her most exhausted voice, one that always got her youngest to comply. He walked over to her, pouty lip held out, and she sat him on the counter again as she sat on the bar stool. "You know I love Daddy very much, right?"

"Yes…" He said as confusion crossed his sweet face.

"And I love Rachel and Rebecca and you all equally."

"I know Mommy, but…"

She held up a hand to quiet him. "You know how we always celebrate your sisters' birthdays together?"

"Duh…"

She couldn't help but laugh. "Well, they're not actually born on the same day." His brow furrowed as he tried to understand and she continued. "Rebecca is almost two weeks older than Rachel."

"How?"

"You know that picture of them in white dresses with the blue and green bows?"

"Yes, but Mommy…"

"Hold on Superman, this should all make sense I promise. Well that picture was taken at your Daddy and my wedding. Rachel and Rebecca were the flower girls. That was the day they became sisters." She smiled, thinking about that perfect day when they all became a family.

"But…huh?"

"Way before you were born, Daddy and I were married to different people. Rebecca came from me and her father, and Rachel came from Shawn and her mother. But Rae's mother left when she was a baby and Rebecca's father died, so Daddy and I got to know each other again and fell even deeper in love and got married. Then I became Rae's mommy and Shawn became Reb's daddy, then you were born."

Isaac's face scrunched up as he tried to understand all the information she just gave him, but eventually he looked at her. "But I come from you and Daddy."

"Yes, we had you after we got married." She brushed his outrageously long hair out of his eyes so she could see him better.

"So you're not Sis' real mommy? And Daddy isn't Becca's real daddy? And they're not real sisters? Are they really my sisters?"

She sighed, this is what she was worried about, why they had waited to explain their past to Isaac. "Not their bodies, but their hearts."

"Mommy, I thought your heart was part of your body."

She smiled at his concrete thinking. "You're absolutely right. Let's see. Rachel and Rebecca don't share anything that makes up their bodies with each other, but they both share some with you, just like you share some with me and Daddy. But they love each other like sisters, they think of each other as sisters, and your daddy and I love and think of all three of you as our kids."

He scrunched up his face again before nodding. "So even though their hearts and bodies are different, they're still sisters with each other and me?" She nodded and he looked at his fingers, seemingly trying to figure out what he wanted to say next. "Do you ever miss Becca's old daddy?"

"Never." She said confidently. "Her father wasn't a good man, he wasn't like Daddy."

"So is Becca…"

"Reb is _nothing_ like her father. Okay? The only thing she got from him are his eyelashes. But she learned to love and be loved from me and Daddy, she is good."

He nodded solemnly. "Was Rachel's momm—mother bad too?"

She sighed, she knew these questions would come, she'd even tried to prepare for them, but now that it was happening, it didn't feel like enough. "She was more scared. Having a baby is a lot of work and Rae's mother wasn't ready for it."

"Does Daddy miss her?" He asked and the question stung her heart in spite of herself.

"I…"

"No." Shawn answered from the entrance to the kitchen, startling her, she hadn't heard him come in. "I loved your mommy long before I met Rach's mother and from the day I held your mommy in my arms, I never ever missed Rachel's mother again." Then he leaned close and kissed her on the neck before whispering, "I thought we were going to do this together."

"The timing seemed right." She whispered back, relishing the feel of him so close to her and his statements of affirmation.

"Iceman, when your mommy and I found each other again, we never looked back. I love Rebecca as much as I love you and Rachel and I have since before I said 'I do'. The past doesn't matter, what matters is how much we all love each other _now_ and the fact that we'll _always always_ love each other. Got it Little Man?"

"Got it Big Man!" Isaac replied with a big nod and a bigger grin.

"Why don't you two go outside and play, I want to talk to the girls for a second."

"You want to learn how to throw a football?" Shawn asked their son exuberantly.

"Yeah! Let's go!" Then Isaac jumped off the counter, making her cringe as he hit the ground hard, but before she could say anything he was up and racing for the back door.

"Don't get too dirty!" She called after them.

"I won't Mommy!" Isaac replied, already outside searching the play bins for a football.

"It's not you I'm worried about…" She sighed as she turned back to the spaghetti sauce, just saving it from burning before Shawn spun her around and kissed her passionately.

"No promises hot stuff." Then he gave her a quick peck on the cheek and ran outside after their son.

She shook her head as she turned the stove all the way down, smiling at the gleeful giggles her husband elicited from Isaac and began to walk upstairs to the girls' room. Her smile widened as she ascended the stairs, they had assembled a perfect life in pictures on the wall. First, one Gus had dug up from before either of their first marriages. They were on a case and Gus had managed to capture one of the many looks she and Shawn exchanged before they could admit what they were feeling was real. Next was their wedding photo, with the two of them exchanging almost the exact same look as they cut the cake. The next several were staggered pictures of the kids at various stages of life, with the girls as their flower girls in the center of the staircase. As much as she loved the picture, she was looking forward to replacing it with her favorite picture from their wedding, where Rachel held a sign that read 'His' crossed out, Rebecca held one that read 'Hers' also crossed out, and she and Shawn stood behind them sharing a sweet kiss as they held up a sign reading, 'Ours'. The picture was supposed to be the girls smiling at the camera, and they had that picture too, but her favorite was the one taken just a second after, when they looked up at her and Shawn as they giggled with excitement and embarrassment. It was the perfect picture of the moment they became a family. The final picture at the top of the stairs was their most recent family picture, taken only three months before with all five Spencers smiling at the camera as they held each other close. She stood for a moment, taking in how incredibly happy the last six years had been, how happy her life was with Shawn, before turning the corner and opening the door to the girls' room.

"Mom I promise it—"

She held up a hand, instantly silencing Rachel, who typically was assigned to plead their case when they thought or knew they were in trouble. "Before you say anything to incriminate yourselves, Isaac didn't meet the tattletale criteria."

"Ha, for once that comes in handy…" Rebecca said with relief as she flopped herself back on her bed.

For the first couple months after they were married, Reb and Rae were constant tattles. She and Shawn figured some of it was just the age and some of it was the adjustment to having an actual sister and having to share two real parents. But, they knew it had to stop, so the Tattletale Rules were made and many problems were solved. "They've saved you consistently since your brother could talk ladies, but that's not why I wanted to come in here. Come, sit on the edge of the loft." She looked around the room as the girls moved, the lofted bed helped with space, but it was getting mighty cramped in their room as their clothes got larger and she and Shawn had spent an entire weekend constructing Ikea desks to give them a workspace other than the kitchen.

"What's up Momma-cita?" Rae asked, it had been a long time since they'd had a conversation on the edge of the loft.

"I told Isaac about your mother and your father." She said to Rachel and Rebecca, respectively and both sets of eyes grew larger. "I explained it the best I could, with an assist from Dad, but he might have more questions. Try to answer them patiently, but if you get stuck you can always tag Shawn or I in, okay?"

They nodded, looking to each other and then to her before Reb spoke, "Does this mean we can put the old wedding picture back up? Now that he knows?"

Juliet smiled and laid a hand on each daughter's knee. "Yes Sunshine, it does."

"Yes, that's my favorite!" Rae added before hopping off the loft—clearly jumping off surfaces ran in the family—and wrapping her arms around her and whispering, "You know you're my mom right? You're my _only_ mom." Juliet smiled and hugged her daughter tighter. She couldn't believe it, Rebecca was nearly her height already and Rachel, only half an inch behind, was no longer a little girl.

"I know Sweetpea, I love you." Then she felt Reb hug them from behind. "You too Sunshine." After a moment, they broke apart and she had to wipe a tear from her eye as she turned to leave. "Dinner is in ten. Oh, and don't put make-up on your brother anymore."

"You said—" Her daughters chorused.

"I'm a detective girls, I know things." She said with a smile as they stared at her quizzically. "That and you only managed to get the lipstick off half his lips." She winked at the girls as she shut the door behind her. "Love you!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

_So I'm like falling asleep sitting up here and possibly getting sick, so I'm not going to reply to reviews but Potato, I loved your idea and I'm still stuck on Isaac's birth so I figured I'd write this in the mean time. It's not exactly what you recommended, but I figured it was a good time to fill the littlest Spencer in on the past, so hopefully you all like it!_

_Read and Review lovelies! I truly cherish your opinions! And I'm still looking for ideas, though I have a list that should keep me busy for a while and Isaac's birth should be up soon (a discussion in class kind of helped point me where I want to go and gave me the info I needed, so keep an eye out!)_


	5. The Christmas Surprise

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" Rachel called as she ran up to him looking panicked. He gently set Rebecca, who had been placing the ornament she made that day high on the tree, back on the ground and crouched to be at eye-level with his other daughter.

"What is it Princess?"

"Mommy had an accident!"

"What?" He asked but Rachel was already tugging him upstairs. Rachel and a very-pregnant Juliet had been wrapping his presents while he and Rebecca did crafts, but an accident? Had she cut herself or something? He entered his room and his heart dropped out of his chest when he saw his wife sitting in a puddle of slightly pink water. "Jules!"

"Call your parents, Shawn, we need to go." She said just as her face constricted with the pain of a contraction.

"He's not due for a month!" Juliet had gotten pregnant on their honeymoon, but the due date wasn't until January 31st, more than a month away.

"Apparently he didn't get the memo!" She retorted before sucking in a sharp breath. "Shawn…" He could hear the fear in her voice, see it in her eyes and it stirred him into action.

"Right. I'll call my mom." He pulled out his phone and dialed his parents house as he threw whatever clothes he could find into a bag—they hadn't packed the 'Go bag' yet as they figured they still had time. "Mom!" He said into the phone as he heard his mother's voice.

"What is it Goose?"

"Baby! Now! Come!" He looked around, trying to figure out what else to bring when he saw Rachel and Rebecca digging through the presents. He placed a hand over the receiver as he heard his mom yell for his dad and looked at his daughters, "Girls, seriously? Not now."

"Ten minutes Goose." He heard through the phone before she clicked it off and he threw the phone on the bed as he crouched to help Juliet up. He looked back to the girls and saw them tear open two packages.

"Girls!" He chided, holding tight to his wife.

"But they're for the baby!" Rachel said as she held up a stuffed lamb.

"We wanted him to have something from us!" Rebecca added as she showed him a soft blue baby blanket.

He sat Juliet on the edge of their bed and crouched to hug the girls and accept the gifts. "You two are the sweetest girls on the planet. Now go run and grab Mommy's coat and shoes."

As they ran downstairs, he placed the gifts in the bag and heard a faint, "Shawn…"

He looked at Juliet and saw a tear running down her eye, one he quickly wiped away. "Shawn I'm not ready. I can't do this. I'm not ready. Are you ready? He's too early. Rebecca was two weeks early but this is five. Five weeks Shawn, that's premature. He's going to be premature."

"Barely Babe, barely premature. He'll be okay, he's a Spencer, we're impatient but strong." He made his argument as confidently as he could, but in reality, he was less sure. This was too early. "Okay, let's get you to the car, if my dad drives, my parents will be here in three minutes." He grabbed Juliet's hands, kissed her head, and pulled her off the bed and started for the door, trying to keep his knees from buckling at the terror he was feeling.

* * *

She had called Carlton to warn him Shawn would be speeding as they got in the car and the police escort he insisted upon caught up with them halfway to the hospital. Since arriving ten minutes before, she'd had two more contractions, gotten put in a delivery room, had her vitals taken, had a million questions asked, an IV placed, and a couple different people assess her. Her water had only broken half an hour ago, before that she hadn't felt any contractions, and now they were telling her to start pushing. She wasn't ready for this. She and Shawn had only been married eight months, to the day in fact. It was Christmas Eve, they were supposed to have almost a February baby, not a Christmas one, a whole additional month to plan, to settle, to prep the girls on having a baby in the house, all of it. Her parents were going to fly out for the last week in January instead of Christmas so they could help out with the new baby. "Shawn, you have to call my parents!"

"Jules, we'll call them later, you need to push." He grabbed her hand and looked into her eyes. She could tell he was scared too, he was trying to hide it, but she always knew.

"Shawn, I can't." She'd been ready with Reb. The nurses had commended her pushing, she'd been the ideal woman in labor, but this was different, something was wrong and it terrified her.

"Yes you can Jules. I know you can."

"Shawn, I'm scared." She hated how weak she sounded.

"Juliet," a smile graced his face as he leaned in to kiss her, "Sweetheart, you have nothing to be scared of. I'm here, we're going to have a baby boy and he's going to charm you and drive you crazy just like his daddy. We've done this before without each other and now we get to do it together, but you've got to push, okay? I need you to push."

She nodded at him and turned to the nurse that spoke. "Alright Juliet, here it comes, I want you to take a deep breath and let that one go, just blow it away." She complied as the crippling pain gripped her core. "Good, now another deep breath and push." The urge to push hit just as the nurse spoke and she curled her entire body in the effort. "One, two, three, four, you're doing great, six, seven, eight, nine, ten." She let the rest of the air escape and relaxed slightly as Shawn kissed her hand and whispered affirmations in her ear. "Another push okay, now. One, two, three, four, five, six, doing great keep going, nine, okay, relax."

She laid her head against the pillow and looked at Shawn and was overwhelmed with love for the man whose child she was having.

"Don't cry Sweetheart, you're doing so great!" He said as she wiped a tear from her cheek.

"I love you." She mumbled as more tears streamed from her eyes.

"Oh Jules, I love you so much. I'm so sorry you're in pain. I'm so sorry." She was in pain, she'd had an epidural with Reb and she was just now appreciating how much that dulled the pain. But the mix of terror at being preterm and love for Shawn, her daughters, and the son she was giving birth to seemed to keep her focused.

"Alright, almost time to push again. You ready?" She nodded at the nurse just as the doctor walked in and got gloves. "Just like last time, okay? We'll do a deep breath, let that one go, deep breath in, then push."

She nodded and the doctor traded places with the nurse—it wasn't her doctor. "I'm Dr. Poore, I'm on call for Dr. McAddams. I already called her and she's on her way. Now let's have a baby!" She looked to Shawn, who kissed her hand again, then nodded at the doctor. "Okay, ready, deep breath in, and out…good. Now deep breath in, and push!" The nurse held one of her legs as she placed a blanket across her chest and she pushed with all she had. "Two, three, four, keep pushing, six, seven, a little more, nine, ten. Good, breathe out, great, now in and push again. Great, two, three, head's almost out, four, five, six, seven, okay stop pushing. Suction." She heard sucking noises and waited to hear the cry. "Okay Juliet, one more good push now." She pushed and felt the incredible release of having a child, but she still didn't hear a cry. "It's a boy!" The doctor plopped the tiny little creature on her chest and the nurse began rubbing him dry while another nurse—one she hadn't noticed come in—suctioned out his nose and mouth again and finally she heard the sweet music of her baby boy's cry.

"Does Dad want to cut the cord?"

"Jules! Oh Jules he's, he's—" She felt Shawn kiss her head as he gave up trying to find words to describe the beautiful baby before cutting the cord that tied them.

"One minute APGAR of six." The first nurse called to the other. "I'm sorry Juliet, I need to take him for just a minute."

"Is he okay?" Panic coursed through her body again as they lifted the little one off her chest.

"Juliet, I need you to push again, one good push for the placenta." Dr. Poore said.

"Is he okay?"

"Juliet, I need you to push now." The doctor said more urgently and she complied.

"Shawn, is he okay?" She looked and saw the nurse was busy doing various things in the warming bed and she realized she couldn't hear his cry anymore.

"He's just a little small and his lungs aren't fully developed so I'm giving him a little extra oxygen." The nurse answered as Shawn walked across to see the baby.

"Her heartrate is dropping. I think a piece of the placenta broke off." She vaguely heard the doctor say.

"Shawn is he okay?" She managed to ask as her world started to go black.

* * *

"Blood pressure is 70 over 30. Turn up that IV, I'm doing a D&C."

There was a flurry of activity and he had no idea what was happening. His son was still kind of blue and not crying nearly as much as Rach did and he turned to see Juliet white as a sheet as her eyes slipped shut. "Jules!" He was torn for a moment, between his son and his wife, but he rushed to Juliet's side and grabbed her limp hand. "Jules! Doc what's wrong?"

"She's bleeding a little more than we expected. Hang more Pit." She the latter part to the nurse that wasn't with their son, they hadn't even settled on a name and he was so small, so tiny and struggling to breath and now Juliet…he couldn't…he couldn't lose them, either of them.

"Jules." He squeezed her hand. "Don't leave me Sweetheart. Don't leave me." He rubbed her hand and looked at the doctor, who was busy doing something but he wasn't sure what. "What's happening?"

"Got it, start massaging the fundus." The doctor said and a nurse began rubbing his wife's stomach. "Document Abruptio Placenta with some shredding, but I think I got everything. How is the baby?"

"Five minute APGAR of 7. Grunting and nasal flaring, cyanosis." The nurse with his son replied.

"Fundus is now firm." The nurse rubbing Juliet's stomach added and he felt numb with terror. He had no idea what anyone was saying. Were they okay? What was happening? What had happened?

"What's happening?" He asked.

The doctor ignored him and replied to the nurse. "Good, bleeding has slowed, I estimate 1000ccs lost, but no laceration." Then turned to the other nurse. "Put a mask on the baby and do the ten minute APGAR."

"What's going on?" He asked, a little louder this time.

"And make sure you suction."

"Her blood pressure is coming up, 80 over 50 with IV wide open."

"What's happening to my wife and son!" He nearly yelled and both nurses and the doctor finally looked at him before the doctor answered.

"Your son is only 35 weeks gestation, his lungs don't have enough of a substance called surfactant in them which makes it harder for him to breathe. We're giving him oxygen so that each breath he gets does more and there's also pressure which helps him open the tiny little sacs in his lungs that he's having trouble opening on his own."

He nodded, though it still didn't entirely make sense, and looked at his boy, he did look a little less blue now. "And Jules?"

"The reason she went into labor early is that the placenta—the organ housing and feeding your baby—separated from the womb all the sudden. But when it did, a piece of it broke off and started bleeding. Once she delivered the rest of the placenta, the bleeding got worse and her blood pressure dropped, but it's coming back now—look, she's waking up." He felt Juliet's hand twitch in his own. "I got the missing piece and she should be okay now, but we'll keep a close eye on her to be sure there's no more bleeding and her blood pressure stabilizes."

He nodded again and turned to see his wife's eyes flutter open. "Jules, Babe, you okay?"

"Shawn, is he okay?" She mumbled.

He smiled at the sound of his wife's voice, he still wasn't sure what was happening, but she was back. "He's fighting, might as well call him a Million Dollar Baby." And just then he heard his boy cry again, but it almost sounded more like a laugh. "See, he's even got a sense of humor already, just like me."

"Five pounds, six ounces on the nose. Seventeen inches. Ten minute APGAR of nine." The nurse said over the strengthening cry of his little man.

"Is nine good?" Juliet asked, more color coming to her cheeks.

"Nine is excellent." The doctor answered. "And how do you feel? Any dizziness? Pain? Did we get a temp on Mom yet?"

"Still a little dizzy but better than before." His wife mumbled before the temperature probe was placed in her mouth. He squeezed her hand and kissed her head before walking to his tiny baby boy. He couldn't go another second without looking at him. He was beautiful, even with the mask over his face, he was the most perfect little boy Shawn had ever seen.

"Temp 99.4."

"Beautiful. Okay Juliet, drink lots of water and let us know if you feel any dizziness or pain. And let's get an O2 Sat on him and see where he's at on room air, I like the sound of that cry."

"Sorry, what are you saying again?" He could use Gus, admittedly, this wasn't something silly like Paleontology or the study of fish, but Gus usually understood words he didn't and he didn't understand a word of what the nurses and doctor were saying. "What's an O2 Sat? And what on earth is an APGAR?" He vaguely remembered them saying APGAR with Rach, but her's had been nine from the get-go and it didn't seem important at the time.

The nurse smiled at him knowingly, everything seemed to be settling down but his heart was still racing. "APGAR is just a quick check on how he's doing. It doesn't mean anything long term, just at the first minute, five minutes, and sometimes ten minutes of life. You baby's score was a little low, we like them at 8, 9 or 10, and because he was premature we decided to give him the oxygen, but now he's doing better." He nodded and looked back at Juliet, who also nodded, she always seemed to have a better grasp on medical things—that's why he let her take the girls to their check-ups after they turned six.

"And the O2 Sat?" It sounded like a drug, or a procedure, or something awful.

"You see the clip we have on Juliet's finger?" The nurse answered and he nodded, he liked to play with it when the doctors weren't looking. "It's the same as that, but a sticker for his foot and it tells us how much of his blood is carrying oxygen—doing what it's supposed to."

"Can I watch?" He didn't feel as helpless as he had a few minutes before, and he was determined to never feel that way again.

The nurse wrapped a tan colored sticker on his son's foot and held a small controller looking thing. "Sure, we're watching this number."

"The 97? 98,99,98…"

"Yes—" she interrupted, we're going to watch it for two minutes and make decisions from there, but we'll probably take him to the NICU—neonatal ICU for a little bit to monitor him and let your wife recover, but you can visit him there, and if everything looks good he may be back with her by tonight."

He watched the number hover between 98 and 100 as his heart felt less and less like it would beat out of his chest. "Can I touch him?" He wasn't crying anymore, but was far less blue than he had been before and didn't look like he was struggling to breathe as much.

"Of course! Why don't you stick your finger in his hand, he should grab on."

He gently placed his finger and felt the tiny hand clamp around it, barely large enough to fully grasp. "Jules, he's holding on to my finger, his hands are so little!"

"How does he look?" Juliet asked him before mumbling something to the nurse that was still sitting with her.

"Perfect, he's not so blue anymore, it's like a little ice man is warming up." He stroked the baby's fingers with his thumb, admiring the tiny nails, itty bitty knuckles, and tiny palm compared to his own.

"His 02 is 99 percent on room air, which is excellent. No work of breathing."

"Mom's BP is 96 over 58 and rising. Temp 99.0"

He heard the nurses and doctors around him, maybe Juliet even said something, but he was captivated by his son, unable to look at anything else. Juliet was okay, his son was okay and he felt a massive rush of relief that he wasn't losing everything he held dear.

"Beautiful, Daddy and his boy." The nurse said as she showed him a picture she must have just taken on Juliet's phone. He couldn't believe the contrast in size, but it was a great picture, he'd have to send it to his mom. "Now, because we don't want him to turn in to an ice man, I'm going to double bundle him right away, then Mommy can hold him for a bit before we take him for monitoring, sound good?"

"Yes!" Juliet called from the bed and he reluctantly pulled his finger out of his son's hand.

"Do you have a name picked?" The nurse asked as she bundled his little boy tight.

"How about Isaac?" He asked Juliet as she accepted the tiny bundle of pure joy. They had thrown around countless names—Isaac briefly being one of them, but they hadn't actually decided, the figured they had plenty of time.

"Isaac…laughter…it's perfect." Juliet had never looked more beautiful. Alive, smiling the most incredible smile, and holding his—their—son. "Isaac Lynn, our second chance baby." Lynn they had decided shortly after they found out they were pregnant—it was a family name after her great-grandfather and it would be something all three of their kids shared.

"My little Iceman…" And with that decided, he crawled into the bed with Jules and Isaac.

"Girls!" Nanna called from the kitchen. "You want to see your baby brother?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" she called as Rachel grabbed her hand and the two of them ran into the kitchen.

"His name is Isaac Lynn and he's really tiny but doing well. Your daddy sent me some pictures." Nanna said as she crouched with them. "See, here's Shawn, Juliet, and Isaac." She liked that picture, Daddy was kissing Mommy's head and Mommy was holding Isaac and kissing his head and Isaac was holding Daddy's finger. _Her _daddy, _her_ mommy, and _her _baby brother all together and happy and she was looking at the picture with _her_ sister-it was the best Christmas Eve she'd ever had.

"He's like my baby doll." Rachel said as she swiped the screen so a picture of just the baby's face came up.

"He's smaller than your baby doll Gosling."

"Nanna! What are you going to call him! She's Gosling, I'm Pumpkin, what's Isaac going to be?"

"I don't know sweetie, we'll see." Nanna said with a smile. "You want a cookie?"

"When can we see them? And is Christmas still coming tomorrow?" Rachel asked as they both took cookies.

"Of course Christmas will come! And we'll go see them first thing in the morning, now go find Gramps because I'm sure he wants a cookie too."

* * *

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" She cried as she ran into his open arms with Rebecca.

"Merry Christmas girls!" He said as he hugged them tight.

"Can we see Mommy and the baby? Can we, can we?" Rebecca asked once they let Daddy go.

"Yep, they're waiting for you!" He said before he hugged Gramps and Nanna. "They kept him in observation for a couple hours but he's doing great, spent the night in the bassinette with us, and Jules has been fine since those rocky first couple minutes." He said to Gramps and Nanna but she could hear.

"Daddy, what was wrong with Mommy and the baby?"

He crouched down and booped her nose. "They got a little sick just after Isaac was born, but they're both great now and I know Isaac is excited to meet his big sisters!" Then he grabbed her hand and Rebecca's on the other side and they all walked through the hall and into a big room.

"Mommy!" She whispered. Her Mommy looked so pretty and she smiled real big when they came in.

"Sweetpea! Sunshine! Merry Christmas! You want to see your baby brother?"

They nodded and Daddy helped them wash their hands before he walked them over and lifted them on the bed with Mommy. He was so little. Littler than her baby doll but he wiggled and she could see his tiny little fingers move. And Mommy was looking at him with a big smile and after a second she looked up at her. "What's up Sweetpea."

"We're a family now." She didn't quite get why, but she felt closer to her mommy now than she did before.

"Oh Sweetie, we've always been a family, we're just bigger now."

"Can I touch him?" She asked, she could see his face and his tiny hands and Rebecca was on the other side, but she was almost scared to touch him. "Is he okay?"

"He's great, my little superman." Mommy said as she rubbed her back.

"Put your finger in his palm Princess, he'll grab on." Daddy said and she listened and he did grab her finger with his little hand!

"Whoa." She looked at the baby, then Daddy, then Mommy, then the baby again and just as Rebecca kissed the baby's head, she heard the camera click.

"Ooh, Nanna, can I see?" She loved seeing pictures and Nanna knew that so she brought the camera over right away so they could all see. She liked that picture, Daddy and Mommy were kissing but it wasn't even gross and she was smiling at Isaac who was holding her finger while Rebecca kissed his head. Her whole family together and she realized that she didn't even care if she got any other presents for Christmas because it was already the perfect day.

"What do you think Gosling, do you like it?"

"I like it, I like it very much." She whispered.

"Merry Christmas Spencer Family." Daddy said and she smiled and looked at her family, knowing it was the best Christmas ever.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

_So it's super long but it's finally here! And if you were super confused in the middle, you were supposed to be-Shawn was, my goal was to kind of confuse people so they'd get how Shawn was feeling-hopefully it worked and you all don't hate me for confusing you..._

_guest…glad you liked it, hopefully you like this one too!_

_cupcake…I'm glad Juliet's explanation made sense! How do you like Isaac's birth? A little scary, but a lot of sweet…right?_

_Potato…I almost think the casual romantic moments are the best. Don't get me wrong, grand gestures of romance are fantastic, but when it comes down to it, those small but genuine moments add up to build a lifetime of love, and that's special. Glad the signs made sense and you liked it, hopefully Isaac's birth lived up to your expectations!_

_And to the rest of you, did you like it? I'm sorry it's long, but I could've made it so much longer even…anyway, let me know what you think! (aka, review please!)_


	6. The Night Before College

Rebecca rolled over for the hundredth time before sighing and rolling out of bed. Then she quietly opened the door to the bathroom she shared with her sister and peered through the other open door.

"Rebecca?" She heard Rachel whisper.

"Can't sleep…" She mumbled as she stepped in to her sister's room and walked over to her bed.

"Me neither. Can you believe how quickly the summer flew by?" Rachel asked as she made room and she hopped in to the bed and hugged her best friend and sister tight. "I mean it's like I blinked and now summer is over. I don't think I'm ready for college."

"Me either." She mumbled, fighting back tears. She'd be moving in to the dorm at Berkeley in a week but Rachel left for UCLA in the morning. It was the first time they'd be separated since their parents got married and the reality of that had kind of snuck up on her. "But we'll still talk, we'll still see each other."

"You know that's right." Rachel mumbled, mimicking their father. "So, it's our last night at home sister-mine, we've had countless adventures the last thirteen years, what do you want to do tonight?"

"Well, we've already been kidnapped by a serial killer, gotten our parents together, solved a murder while babysitting, helped Dad and Mom solve a couple cases, what really is there left to do?" She smiled as she thought about all the fun they'd had since becoming sisters.

"Oh my gosh, I have an idea, hold on!" She loved the way Rachel's face lit up when she was excited and she watched as her sister leapt out of the bed and began digging through her closet. "I found this when I was packing." She said as she turned to reveal the treasure in her closet.

"The tent!"

"Wanna have a sleepover? Indoor camping night?"

"Yes! I have sleeping bags in my closet, hold up." She ran through the bathroom and came back with arms full of sleeping bags, blankets and pillows as Rachel began threading the pliable plastic supports. "I can't believe we still have this thing. When was the last time we spent the night in this?"

"I don't know, when we were like, eight maybe?" Rachel answered as the tent began to take shape in the middle of her room.

She helped her sister connect the last pieces and threw the blankets and pillows inside. "That's a decade…"

"Snap. Okay, crawl in the nostalgia express!" Rachel held the flap to the tent open and she crawled in, surprised by how small it seemed as Rachel followed her in.

"Not quite the mansion I remember…" She mumbled as she shifted blankets and flopped on her back.

"I could've sworn it was ten times this big. But look!" She lit up her cell phone and pointed to the stick figures directly above her. One with yellow hair, one with brown, holding hands with "Sisters" written beneath—with all the 's's backwards.

"And we thought we were artists…look at this one, this must have been the time we got caught sneaking Isaac in here from his crib." It was like reading hieroglyphs, deciphering the events of their childhood through their pictures and Rebecca had trouble muffling her laughter.

* * *

He rolled over again and hit his pillow before grabbing his old Lambie and hugging it close. "She's just my dumb sister. I shouldn't…" He bit Lambie's ear, trying not to cry. Both his sisters were leaving, but Rachel was leaving first and he was really going to miss her. "This is dumb, she's only going to be here one more night." He mumbled to the lamb his Sis had given him before he was born before throwing back the covers and sneaking out of his room. He didn't even knock on Rachel's door, just cracked it open enough to whisper, "Sis?"

"Hey Squirt, come in." She whispered back and he went in quickly, carefully closing the door behind.

"What's this?" He asked as he realized his sister was poking her head out of a tent in her room.

"That's right, you probably wouldn't remember this." He heard from inside the tent.

"Becca?"

"Get in here Bub, see your two-year-old craftsmanship." Becca said as she pulled Sis back so he could come in and pointed to a bunch of scribbles near the bottom of the tent. He looked at it before flopping on his back to look at the top as Becca laid on hers.

"We were so mad at you, but you didn't know better." Rachel whispered as she settled between him and Becca on her stomach. "You couldn't sleep either?"

He shook his head and looked around at the different drawings all over the tent. "So what is this?"

"This, Squirt, was our castle. Dad gave it to us—well, me technically, but us—for Christmas when we were five. We were allowed to draw on any part of it we wanted. Best Christmas present ever."

"Except for me of course." He said haughtily.

"Ha, humble aren't you? Yes, aside from you Bub." Rebecca answered.

"Aw, is that Lambie?" Rachel asked, spying the toy under his arm. He hadn't even realized he brought it in.

"Uh, yeah…" It was a little embarrassing, he was in middle school but he still slept with the lamb and blanket his sisters had given him.

Rachel smiled and kissed him on his forehead and he had to choke back a cry. "I love you Isaac."

"I love you too." He blubbered, unable to hold the tears back. He hated crying, especially in front of his sisters, but he was going to miss them so much.

"Oh Squirt." She sighed as she pulled him close and he felt Rebecca's arms on his back too. He felt a tear fall off Rachel's cheek and stopped trying to hold back how sad he was. He even felt Becca crying on top of them and he shifted so he was hugging her too.

* * *

He felt the bed bounce slightly and rolled over to wrap his arm around his wife. He hadn't slept a wink, not with his Baby Girl leaving for college the next morning. College…he remembered taking her to Kindergarten. How it had ripped out his heart to watch her walk into the school hand in hand with Rebecca. Except this time, she wouldn't even have Becks. Those girls had been inseparable since before they were sisters and now they were going to be hours away from him and each other. "I thought you were asleep." He whispered in Juliet's ear, she'd been breaking down in tears randomly for weeks now, but he thought she had finally fallen asleep tonight.

"I just can't believe it's actually happening." She sniffled as she settled in to his arms. He kissed her cheek and felt her hand come up to his. "Oh, Shawn." She rolled so they were face to face and wiped a tear from his eye that he hadn't realized had escaped.

"She's my Baby Girl. Eighteen years we've been together and now…"

"I know Babe, I know, it's just all happening so fast. Weren't they five like a week ago?" She murmured as another tear fell from her eye.

"How about we just redo the last thirteen years, they've been pretty great, right?"

"The best, but I wouldn't trade them for anything."

He kissed her softly, glad that she would still be with him. "This time next week it'll just be you, me, and Ice. That's crazy." He couldn't even think about Becks leaving yet. She was his Little Wonder, his baseball buddy, and somehow over the past thirteen years she had become one of his best friends, but he still had a whole week with her. His Baby Girl was leaving in the morning. "Why does Rachel even want to go to college, she should just hang out with me for the rest of her life."

"Sweetie…" Juliet said softly, running her thumb along his cheek. "You know I want her to stay. I want them both to stay, but we have to let them go."

"Which is why you keep holding her and telling her you're never letting go." He'd caught her a couple times throughout the summer.

"Well…"

* * *

She looked into her husband's eyes, red with the tears he was failing to hold back, and thought of her father's advice before she got involved with Shawn. She loved him, so incredibly much, and she knew he was the only reason she'd be able to survive the girls going to college. "I just can't imagine not having her here."

"Me either." He had been uncharacteristically quiet lately, and she knew he was having trouble coping with the idea of the girls going to school.

"I love you Babe." She kissed him softly before rolling around so she could snuggle up closer to him.

"I'm so glad I've got you." He whispered in her ear before kissing her neck.

She snuggled in closer as he tightened his grip and thought about Rachel. She'd grown up so much in the past thirteen years, but she was still always down to help in the kitchen or go get a manicure and take pictures in the park. As the girls grew up, they had become her best friends, which was weird and wonderful at the same time, and now they were going to be hours away. And Reb…Shawn was right, after eighteen years it was almost impossible to imagine life without her. She let herself cry in Shawn's arms and could feel his hot tears as they dropped on her neck, when she suddenly heard laughter from down the hall. "You hear that?"

"Yeah, sounded like it came from the kids' rooms, shall we?"

She nodded and crawled out of bed as Shawn went the other way, then tiptoed through the hall with him. She opened the door to Isaac's room, as it was closest, and saw that the bed was empty. Shawn opened Reb's door and shook his head, they must have all been in Rae's room. She walked down and was about to open her other daughter's door but stopped when Shawn began waving like a wild man. "What?" She whispered as she got close.

"Let's scare them…" He smiled, his eyes bright and she nodded and followed him into Rachel's room through Rebecca's. She could hear the laughter clearer now and was surprised to find their old pup-tent set up in the middle of Rachel's room, with all three of her kids inside. There was laughter and shushing as they talked about some prank they had pulled off years before and Juliet nodded at Shawn before grabbing one side of the tent and shaking it.

"Got ya!" Shawn exclaimed and she laughed at the high-pitch squeals of her daughters and squeaky scream of her pre-pubescent son.

"Dad! Mom?" She heard Rachel ask from in the tent before she crouched down and opened the flap. The kids were sprawled across each other surrounded by pillows and blankets and looking incredibly happy.

"You can't have fun without us yet Sweetpea. Scoot over kids, Mom and Dad are coming in."

"Did we wake you?" Rebecca asked as she and Isaac complied, leaving room for her and Shawn to squeeze in on either side of Rae.

"You think we could sleep?" Shawn answered as he wrapped one arm around Rebecca and the other around Rachel.

They just barely fit all five of them in there, Isaac was practically on top of her as she settled in to the pillow nest her kids had made, but she enjoyed being so close to her family. "We've just been crying, you know, normal parent stuff." She added as she kissed the heads of the children she could reach.

* * *

"I'm pretty sure Dad said something along those lines when I started kindergarten…" Rachel said as she settled in between her parents and reached for her siblings' hands. She couldn't believe how fast her life was flying by. She remembered kindergarten, and at times it felt like that was ages ago, but nights like tonight, it felt like it had been just a blink of an eye. Here she was, snuggled in with her family for the last time till Thanksgiving since she and Rebecca had different fall breaks. That was hard, incredibly hard to deal with. "Guys, what if I'm not ready?" She bit her lip and tried to stop the tears from coming again, but she couldn't. She was excited for college, she was, but she loved her family so freaking much that maybe going away was a mistake.

"Oh Sweetpea." Her mom sighed, squeezing her tighter. "You are ready. As much as we may not be ready to let you go, you're ready."

"Look, Rach, you're _always_ going to be my Princess." Her dad added. "And you know that I'll come get you any time you need me to. We're talking middle of the day, middle of the night, you need me, I'm there."

"And Sweetpea, we're only ever a phone call away. You can call us to talk any time."

"I know, but I'm going to miss this." She sniffled.

"Me too Baby Girl, me too."

"Can we do a Storytime with the Spencers?" Isaac asked, she could tell he was crying too.

"Yeah, let's do it." Rebecca added.

"Rachel addition, we'll do Dad, then me, Reb, then Isaac and Rae you just listen."

They usually only did special additions on birthday's, but she was happy to just listen as her dad started.

"Alright, once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess named Rachel."

"Who was sweeter than the sweetest flower." Mom continued.

"Kinder than all the townspeople," Rebecca added.

"And braver than the bravest knight." Isaac finished round one.

"This sweet, kind, brave Princess was about to go on the greatest adventure of her life."

"But she was nervous about leaving because it was the first adventure she'd have to go on by herself."

"So the Princess got ready and tried to muster up the courage to set out on this journey when…"

"The court jester showed up and started dancing around!" Isaac flopped his arms in the air, pretending to dance, and she couldn't help but laugh.

"Then the King and Queen showed up to send her off, and they were so incredibly proud." Dad said, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"And they cast a magic spell on her that would let her feel their hugs and kisses from anywhere she went."

"And the other Princess reminded her that even though they were going on different journeys, they were never apart."

"And the Court Jester promised to send her a joke by owl every day so she always had something to smile about."

"Then the Princess," She said, grinning from ear to ear with love for her family. "with the love and encouragement of her family, was able to be sweet, and kind, and most of all brave as she started her greatest adventure yet. The end." She kissed each of her parents cheeks and squeezed her siblings hands. "Thank guys. I love you."

"We love you too Sweetpea, now let's all try to get some sleep."

She nodded and snuggled in deeper. Five people in that tent was a lot, but she had never felt more loved, more connected with her family than just then. She realized they were right. Even though she wouldn't be home, she wasn't really going away from the love her family shared, she'd take that with her in her heart. "Goodnight Spencers." She whispered as she closed her eyes and finally fell asleep, warm and content in the love of her family.

/\/\/\/\/\

_Okay, I'm super duper tired, so hopefully the ending doesn't suck, but it's been a while since I've posted and I've been thinking about this one for a while. Hopefully you like it! I don't know what I'm doing next, but I'm thinking maybe Rebecca's first date...we'll see...I could also do like the 25th anniversary. I'll do both eventually, but why don't y'all tell me what you want to see first?_

_LyssLovesTiva...glad you liked Isaac's birth! And I never really thought about the adoption process...I may do that, but I may just decide that they worked through all that before the wedding...we'll see! Thanks for the idea though!_

_Snyders...they're fun to write, but I have a lot of additional knowledge on the subject from school, which kind of made it extra fun!_

_MaggieJaggie...A. I love long reviews. and B. Seriously, you saying that my book was one of the the best you've read was probably the biggest compliment I've ever received, so thank you so much!_

_Cupcake...can't say I'm sorry you were confused, but glad the confusion worked and you liked it!_

_Potato...I love Scrubs so much! In fact, the day I got my scrubs, I watched a Scrubs marathon...it was glorious! And I'm glad the photo moments make sense...I'm a bit of a novice photographer so I love incorporating that into my writing! And I'm glad you liked the chapter, hope you like this one too!_

_Anyway, let me know if there are any grave spelling/grammatical errors as I wrote Rachel's part practically half conscious, and please review! Y'all are the best!_


	7. The First Date

"But you have to promise not to tell Dad." He heard Rebecca whisper to Juliet in the kitchen. Those were never comforting words.

"Tell me what?" He asked as he swung around the corner only to see his daughter instantly blush.

"Uhhh…" He could see the gears grinding in her head, trying to think of something, anything to tell him.

"You can tell him Sunshine." Juliet coaxed and he continued to stare down his fourteen-year-old.

"I—uhh—well…I'm going on a date and Rachel failed her science test."

"Hey!" He heard Rachel from behind. "Way to throw me under the bus!"

He spun around to face Rach, "We'll talk later. But what's this about a date?" He asked as he spun back to Becks and Jules.

"Reb got asked on her first date today." His wife supplied, smiling demurely. "She's going to a movie tomorrow."

"Who? What? When? _Why?" _He couldn't even fully formulate the questions as they spilled out of his mouth.

"Nate…Nate McNab. A movie, I'm not sure which yet and the time will depend on the movie." Rebecca bashfully answered.

Nate McNab…he was two years older than Becks. A junior to her freshman. Buzz's only child. This wasn't possible. She wasn't even supposed to like boys for another ten years! "No." It was all he could think to say.

"But Da-ad!"

"But Be-ecks…"

"Shawn." Juliet interrupted and he mentally pleaded with her for support. "Reb, your Dad and I will talk about this tonight and let you know in the morning before you go to school." He snapped his tongue but knew there was no reason to question his wife in front of the kids.

"What's all the hullabaloo?" Isaac asked as he walked in. "Oh, did Mom and Dad find out you failed your science test Sis?"

"Wow, did I miss a memo? Is it officially 'Throw Rachel Under the Bus' day?" Rachel replied sarcastically.

"About that…" Juliet started.

"Yes, daughter-dearest, do tell."

"Okay, it was a total rip-off and I'm already going to tell the teacher."

"Why don't you tell us first." Jules said calmly as she pointed to the seat Rebecca had strategically vacated.

Rachel sighed dramatically then plopped herself on the seat to plead her case. "Okay, this kid—oh wait, do you remember Jesse Sater from my kindergarten class? He sat between me and Rebecca?" He and Juliet nodded slowly, confused as to the connection. "Okay well he's in my Bio class and he cheats off all my tests! I don't know how exactly, but I know he does because he pays zero attention and always gets practically same grade as me. So I decided to teach him a lesson. I circled all the wrong answers on my actual test packet because I was pretty sure that's the one he cheats off, but I couldn't bubble in letters on the ScanTron till the end because he would've seen." He nodded again, starting to see where this was going but still not totally following. "But I didn't realize it was a timed test, and Mr. K. knows a bunch of people fill in the ScanTrons at the end so he said this time he would just accept the test packets so _all_ of my answers were wrong." She huffed again and all the pieces came together in his mind.

"So did Mr. K. not notice that both of you failed completely and sit together?" He asked.

She made a scoffing noise again. "No, because Jesse is apparently just smart enough to change _some_ answers, so because it was mostly true-false, _he_ actually passed! I mean barely but still."

"Are you sure he was cheating off you Sweetpea, maybe he just gets similar grades as you." Juliet replied calmly.

"Mom, you're a cop and Dad's a private detective, I _know_ he's cheating…"

"Okay then Baby Girl, I'll tell you the same thing the Chief tells me—you need hard evidence. Prove it to your teacher and hopefully he'll give you a retake. Now your Mom and I will talk about your punishment and tell you the same time we tell Becks about the date."

"Dad, that's not fair, I didn't really fail!" Rachel retorted.

"Life's not fair Sweetpea."

"And you should have just told your teacher he was cheating instead of tricking Jesse and jeopardizing your grade." It was times like this that he was especially appreciative of Jules, being able to tag team was far easier than one-on-one when you love your kids as much as he did.

"That's crap Dad! You _never_ would have told the teacher first! You always do it yourself!" Her voice was raised now and it took effort to not raise his. Fortunately he'd had years of practice now.

"And I'm raising you to be more responsible. Your mom would have probably taken him straight to the principal." He looked to Juliet who readily nodded. "We're finding middle ground."

"Now you and Reb go scoop out ice cream and make sure Isaac doesn't get more than two scoops or he'll be up all night."

Rach sighed dramatically, but for her part knew not to question them and rose to walk into the kitchen.

"I would not have brought it straight to the principal!" Juliet whispered the second Rach was out of earshot.

He just laughed and leaned over to kiss her, pausing at his favorite 'Very Close Talking' position. "Sure Sweetie, thanks for the solidarity at least." She gave him a sarcastic scowl and he gave her a quick peck before plopping on the couch next to her, ready for an evening with the family.

* * *

She sat in bed, bathing her hands in lotion in an attempt to put off old age, while Shawn brushed his teeth.

"So Babe, Becks isn't going on that date, right?" He asked as he walked to his side of the bed and hopped in, propping himself up on one elbow to look at her.

"It's one little date with Buzz's son…" She started before he interrupted.

"Yeah, Buzz's _sixteen-year-old_ son, Jules! I know what boys that age are thinking and it's not about how good the newest Disney movie is."

Honestly, part of her loved seeing him so riled up about this. He was _so_ protective of Reb—almost more so than Rae some times just because he always wanted to protect her. Still, she wanted Reb to be able to go on a little date. "Shawn, you've known Nate since he was seven, I've known him his whole life. He's a good boy."

"Then let him be a good boy with someone else's daughter! Mine's off limits. To anyone. Until she's twenty-five, and that's down from thirty so she should be glad."

She laughed and adjusted herself so she was laying down at eye level with Shawn. "Sweetheart," she sighed as she leaned in so their lips would meet. The kiss quickly turned deeper before Shawn suddenly broke it off.

"You're not helping Rebecca's case here." He said matter-of-factly.

"We have to let her live, Babe. It's one little date with a good kid. Wouldn't you rather that be her first date than some boy with lip-piercings and tattoos?"

His eyes widened. "That can _never_ happen. Did _you_ ever date anyone like that?"

"Ha! Heck no…" she laughed as she leaned in close. "_You_ are as wild as I ever got. But, Reb has quite a strong streak of you going for her."

"Mmmmm" He hummed thoughtfully before he broke into a smile. "Fine, one date with the boy, but Rach has to do paperwork for me tomorrow as punishment."

"Mmmmm" she mimicked, "sounds fair." Then she leaned in close once more. "Now where were we…"

* * *

He placed bowls of cereal in front of the three bar stools at his counter as his wife went to rouse the children. It had been essentially the same routine for nine years now, but much to his surprise he wasn't sick of it. And then to see her come down wearing one of his dress shirts—it was probably the closest article of clothing she could find that morning—it filled him with a happiness he knew he didn't deserve. "Good morning Wife." He said as he gave her a light peck on the cheek. She'd still been asleep when he'd gotten out of bed to shower—he and Gus had to drive all the way to Ojai so he'd have to leave before the Isaac went to school if he wanted to be done by the time Rach and Becks got out of dance rehearsal and baseball practice respectively. As a working father of three, he was never bored, but he was constantly amazed at how well his family operated.

"Good morning Husband." Juliet replied before she let out a huge yawn. "Man, I wonder why I'm so tired." She added with a secret smile as she grabbed the milk and cereal off the shelf.

He wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed her neck. "Sorry about that…"

"No you're not…"

"No, I'm not."

"Morning Dad! Morning Mommy!" Isaac called as he entered the kitchen. While Jules did better with mornings than he did, neither of them could explain how their son was such a morning person.

"Morning Iceman. Capt. Crunch today?" He asked as he let go of his wife.

"Sure. Sis and Becca are freaking out upstairs." Isaac replied. His son was always the best source of info for what the girls were up to.

"Well they're going to be late if they don't hurry." Juliet added, checking her watch. "I have to go shower. Shawn, make sure they get on the bus. And Superman, both your sisters are busy tonight so I'm switching your and Rae's dates. Start thinking about where you want to go."

Isaac nodded excitedly and they both wished her a good day before she started upstairs and a moment later, both girls appeared looking nervous. "Eat fast girls, your bus will be here in seven minutes and Mom and I can't drive you." They nodded and quickly poured themselves bowls of cereal before looking up at him with expectant eyes. For his part, Isaac didn't spill the beans, but looked at him with equal interest. Two pairs of startlingly blue eyes surrounding a pair of bright green and gold ones. "Becks, Peanut, I will drop you off at the theatre at six thirty and pick you up at nine thirty, there are three movies showing within that time frame and you can pick any of them." Rebecca's eyes lit up as a blush flushed her cheeks and 'Thank you Daddy's started pouring from her lips. He smiled at her then turned to Rach, who still looked nervous. "You, my Baby Girl, will be stuck with me for the night doing paperwork. And if your teacher doesn't agree to let you retake the test, your mom and I will talk to him. But no pulling a stunt like this again."

Relief flooded her face. "Thank you Dad. And I wont, I promise!"

"Now eat girls! And all three of you are buying lunch because we got up late. Ice, make sure you're watching for your bus, I don't know if Mom will be back down in time." He handed them money as the girls stuffed their faces and shoved their empty bowls at him to grab shoes. "Girls I'm picking you up today, Little Man, I'm sure Mom will pick you up from football. Everyone have a good day, girls out the door now!" He directed as he grabbed a protein bar and kissed all three of his kids on the head before heading for the garage.

"Dad wait! You didn't give me money for lunch!" Isaac called after him.

"Come on Son…" He replied and a devious smile broke out over his son's face. "Don't cause too much trouble and I'm calling your mom in ten minutes to make sure she doesn't get robbed…" And with one more tousle of his son's hair, Shawn walked out of the house.

* * *

"Oh heck no, that is far to much makeup…" She said as she stepped into the bathroom her girls shared.

"Told you." Rae said in a low voice.

"Mom I just want to look a _little_ older!"

"Sunshine, you look like the professionals I bring in." She grabbed the makeup remover and began wiping off the eyeliner. Admittedly, she was exaggerating a bit, Rebecca looked nothing like a prostitute and the smoky-eye had been surprisingly well done, but her daughter was fourteen and needed to look it. She was excited for Reb, but at the same time she hated that the girls were even thinking about dating. She trusted Nate as much as one could trust a sixteen-year-old, but that didn't mean she wasn't a little reluctant to let Reb go. "A light touch of eye shadow to brighten and sparkle." She said as she applied it, memories of doing this when the girls were five flashing in her mind. "A single line of eye-liner. You don't and won't ever need mascara, I don't know why you tried. And just a dusting of blush, smile." She applied the blush to the apples of her grown-up baby's cheeks. "Much better." She said with a smile as she turned both girls so the three of them could look in the mirror. "The Spencer beauties." The girls were growing up so fast. So was Isaac, but it seemed more apparent in the girls as they started declaring their independence. But to her, they'd always be her Baby Girl and Little Wonder.

"Thanks Mom. Oh, Rachel we better tell Dad it's time to go!" Rebecca said and Rae followed her out the door through Reb's side. She followed after them, glancing around at the mix of youth and adolescence that filled her daughter's room. The baby doll pushed in the corner but still lovingly swaddled. The poster of a boy band only partially covering the one of puppies and kittens she had saved up her allowance for when she was eight.

"I know, I know, let me just say goodbye to your mom, go get shoes on." She heard Shawn in the hall and went out to greet him. "Hey Beautiful."

"Hiya Handsome. You ready for this?"

He scoffed and pulled her in to a hug. "Only cause I've got you." She held him tight. "You ready for your date with Ice?"

"We've gotten as far as deciding that he wants ice cream—so maybe. I'm sure he'll come up with something the second we leave."

Shawn laughed and kissed her head. "Well have fun. I should go. Reruns of the Mentalist tonight?"

"You know that's right." She replied, stealing one of his many phrases and he smiled and kissed her before she heard the girls call.

"All right, all right! You monsters.." He called back as he started down the stairs, shooting her a wink before he turned. "Big fat kisses."

"Big fat kisses."

* * *

She was a little jealous that Rebecca was going on a date. The only boy that had asked her out was Jesse and that was so _not_ happening. But Nate was nice and really cool and she was happy for her sister. It was funny, because they grew up with most of the department kids—Iris and them hung out at parties and stuff, Andrew was one of their best friends and Ellie hung out with all of them, Sam was Isaac's best friend, and Krista and Bryan were over all the time. It was like one giant family, though Rebecca liked to joke that Andrew had a crush on her. Anyway, they all knew each other super well, but Nate they never really talked to. McNab and Francie lived father away so Nate didn't go to their school but he showed up to most of the parties. He usually hung out with Dobson's kid though so they never talked. Until the past New Years party and since then he and Rebecca texted all the time and now they were going on a date. But she was sure she'd hear all about it that night. "So Papa-dear. We going back to the office?"

"Nope, give me your phone." He replied as he held out his hand and she cautiously placed her phone in it. Usually Psych paperwork consisted of her typing out the adventures Dad and Uncle Gus went on because the latter was too busy and the former was too lazy. Dad parked the car in the theatre parking lot and she looked at him questioningly. "Look in the bags in the back Rach, different kind of paperwork."

She hopped out of the SUV and opened the trunk to see coats, wigs, and newspapers. "No, Dad, I can't." She wasn't going to spy on Rebecca's date.

"You have to comply with the punishment. If you warn your sister in any way that you're watching her, the phone stays gone for a month and I get to text all the boys in it."

"Dad!" This so wasn't fair. She'd already retaken the failed test and gotten an A on it. Spying on her sister on her first date was too much.

"Rach!" He replied in a girly voice, throwing a wig on her head. "Now hurry, I want to get good seats!"

* * *

"Mom, stop taking pictures or she'll see us!" He whispered in his mom's ear. They'd made it all the way in to the theatre without getting caught by Becca and he wasn't going to have Mom spoil it. This was already the best Mom-Date ever! She had offered to go see a movie and he decided he wanted to follow Becca, so not only was he spying on his big sister, but he was getting to watch a PG-13 movie in the theatre!

"I'm just documenting my Baby Girl's first date."

Mom's were so weird… "Wait, go back!" He whispered and she flipped back to the photo before. "Are those people reading newspapers?" He pointed to two people on the side of the picture. The movie hadn't started yet, but it still seemed weird.

"Oh, that better not be…" Mom closed the camera app and opened the phone one, then pulled up 'My Man' which was Dad's phone. Mom was 'Doodle Pumpkin' in Dad's which was even weirder. "Isaac, watch the bigger one with the paper."

He did and after a second he saw the man pull out a phone with Mom's picture on the screen and hit the red button. "Wait, that's Dad? So is the other one Rachel?"

"I guess they're doing a different kind of paperwork today…" Mom sighed as she dropped her head into her hands. "Like father like son, eh?"

He smiled, he wanted to grow up to be just like his dad, even though he loved Mom lots too.

* * *

"Ugh! I'm never talking to _any_ of you again!" She knew it wasn't true as much as they did, but she had never been more annoyed and embarrassed by her family. She hadn't said anything the whole car ride and when Dad started saying something she ran off. They had all been there. Her whole freaking family spying on her date. Rachel was forced by Dad as her punishment so she wasn't super mad at her but Isaac, Mom, and Dad all wanted to do it. Could they not trust her at all? Nate went to grab her hand in the movie and Dad had a coughing fit and then Isaac laughed and she'd recognize that laugh anywhere and it was just awful. And then to make it worse, Nate had said that they shouldn't date…_maybe_ when they were older but she knew that wouldn't happen. And she really liked him. He was nice, maybe not the smartest but not dumb, and he made her laugh and feel special. It was everything Dad taught her to look for and then he didn't trust her judgment and ruined the date!

Although she admittedly wasn't impressed that he'd only asked her to a movie. Dad was right, movies are okay once you already know each other real well, but they're not great for first dates. Plus it was a little weird to have to be dropped off for a date. And she _was_ only a freshman. It seemed slightly silly to date anyone when she couldn't even drive. Plus, Mom said she changed a lot in her early teen years and she knew she was still kind of in those awkward in between stages…but she _liked_ Nate…

"Rebecca?" She heard Rachel ask cautiously from the closed bathroom door.

"Yeah, come on in…"

"Are you really mad at me?"

She moved over on her bed and patted the spot next to her, which Rachel sat on. "No, it wasn't your fault. I'm mad at Dad mostly for not trusting me. I should've known Bub would want to follow and Mom wasn't likely to turn down an opportunity like that."

Rachel hugged her from the side and she leaned in to her sister. "What did Nate say?"

"That he liked me but we probably wouldn't work out…_maybe_ when we were older."

"Who needs him. It's not like you were going to marry him anyway." Rachel said dramatically and they both laughed. "Plus, now you've basically got a free pass from Mom and Dad so they'll definitely let you go on your next date! Maybe with Justin from English class?"

She laughed again and pushed her sister. "Only if it's ice cream…I need to be able to _see_ my surroundings to watch for stray family members!"

"Or mini-golf. That worked for Mom and Dad." Rachel suggested.

"Mom and Dad's first date was perfect. But mini-golfing with the family is still out as far as date ideas. Bowling could be fun though…"

* * *

He did feel kind of bad that he ruined Rebecca's date. The conversation with the boy _might_ have been a little intense for a first date, but it had the desired effect...  
…Okay, maybe not _so_ desired…

"She will talk to me again, right? She's never said that before." He asked Jules as they watched reruns.

"Yes, Babe, she will talk to you. She just needed to blow off some steam." She replied as she snuggled more in his arms. "Listen, you can hear her laughing with Rae now."

"For a family of investigators, we kind of failed on this one, huh…"

"You failed. Ice and I rocked it." She said with mock pride.

"Mmhmm…sure…" He kissed the top of her head. "They're actually growing up, aren't they?"

"Yep." She replied matter-of-factly. "But they'll always be your Princess and Peanut—just like they'll always be my Sunshine and Sweetpea. We can't stop them from growing up, but we can continue to guide them towards a good life. At some point, we just have to trust that they learned."

He nodded thoughtfully. "You're a pretty great mom aren't you?"

"My mug doesn't say 'World's Greatest' for nothing!" She said, displaying the mug of cocoa. "But it helps that I've got such a great husband to parent with."

He smiled to himself and kissed his wife's head again. "I owe her big though, don't I…"

"Oh, huge." She replied then turned to look at him with a coy smile. "But I've been thinking that if we cave on the puppy thing we'll win tons of bonus points _and_ they'll probably not want to go out as much if they have a puppy to play with at home."

"A puppy?" That seemed like a lot of work, but Jules was right. And since Becks was particularly insistent about it, he'd definitely be back on the top of her list. "Only if we name it Starfish..."

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_Woo! I had more requests for the first date so here it is! Also, I kind of just made it like a glimpse into a normal-ish Spencer day. Let me know what you thought!_

_TheCrazyScientist...here you are! A bit of a father freak out moment for Shawn but not too drastic...we'll see, there may be a time when he goes full freak out but I think for the most part he knows the girls are good kids. That and he'll make it very clear to any boy that wants to date his daughter that he is not to be messed with! _

_LyssLovesShules33...glad you caught the babysitting thing! I will write that at some point..._

_Potato...they do all love each other. And I know I write them or whatever, but I think it's so rare that we see a functional family in television or books that we start to believe that there aren't families that love each other this much. But there are. Fights, yes, over-dramatic teenagers, always to some degree, but loving families nonetheless! Also, Scrubs is just awesome. It was another one where I loved the finale (of the real show, not the extra year thing they did). Also, I LOVE the musical episode of that one!_

_cupcake...we will see the girls' Adventures in Babysitting (please tell me someone else has seen that movie!) eventually! It should be pretty darn exciting!_

_Anyway, read and review as always. Love you all and sorry the chapters to everything are getting more spaced out, I have three weeks and like 6 exams of school left!_


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